Bethesda's Sanctuary
by Delumbra
Summary: Sentenced to death, Renkarimito finds himself in a unique situation.
1. Chapter 1

The sun was directly overhead, illuminating every inch of the hollow stone tower, and eliminating the shadow of its lone prisoner. This event had become his only tool for keeping accurate time amidst his frequent slips into unconsciousness, a fitful sleep that brought no rest and could last from mere minutes to hours.  
Sleep became a strange thing when one was slated for execution.

At least it was no longer something to wrack his brain with. This placement of the sun marked his fourth day in the tower, and his last day on this world. Soon he would have the opportunity to receive his final meal- what his executioners would consider a mercy, but his tongue an act of war- and be lead out over the cliff where the ceremony would take place. The "victim" of his "crime" would be there to oversee it, as well as the High Priest.

Or in this case, only the one, considering they're one and the same. Assault on a member of the royal priesthood was met with a sentence of death after all. Normally a lowly slave like him wouldn't even be given the kindness of being held for four days prior to his "Spiritual Embarkation", but being the property of the High Priest gave him certain privileges. More than that, he was sure that his former master only wanted to rub it in his face one final time, see that look of absolute and powerless defeat in his eyes. Unfortunately, he doubted he'd have the strength to deny him that satisfaction.

The rusty door was thrown open and a pair of hooded guards stepped in. Why they carried weapons, he'd never know. No one chained to a stone wall for the "Ceremonial 100 Hours of Enlightenment" would have any strength nor will to fight. They (presumably) eyed him for a moment before approaching, probably because he knew them. He often found himself eating in the company of the guards, but they were forbidden to say a word. They released his arms from the chains, and slowly lifted him to his feet. A moan of pain escaped his cracked lips. Having sat still against the wall with no food for days, he was understandably quite sore. The guards could not show him any mercy however, if in fact they did know him as he believed. There was a schedule to keep, and punishment would fall on them next if they were late. They stopped only momentarily to gesture at the plate of mush on the small table set outside the tower, but their prisoner shook his head, and they continued on.

It was a short walk along a cobblestone path only a few minutes time with the rustle of the trees in the breeze, birds chirping overhead, and animals chattering to one another in their dens. The cliff lay only on the other side of the priest's estate, he was waiting, and he wasn't alone.  
Today seemed to be one of his less ostentatious days. He was only wearing his standard clothing and headdress, solid gold, and covered in enough feather to make it several feet tall. Then the splint, gold of course, and hastily inlaid with precious gems. His arm was broken from the man's attack after all. At his side stood the newest of his concubines, arms in chains held by the priest. She was in fact the trigger to his outburst.

"I would have expected you to react differently when I told you that your wife was to join my collection of lovely ladies, Renka," the priest mocked, waving his broken arm and giving the chain in his hands a yank. "How else shall the divine presence fill a slave?"  
Renka's body tensed in an attempted lunge, but his escorts held him still, eliciting a laugh from his former master.  
"In fact, there is only one other way, and I've gone to all the trouble of arranging it for _you_. You will have the honour of receiving the royal sacrament."  
Again the guards held their prisoner still at his would-be outburst, but their hands were shaking. They obviously weren't made aware of this development either. This execution would entail far more than the usual, and most of it, pain.

The High Priest waved them over to the post erected by the cliff's edge. As per the ceremony, it was unanchored, only a post upright on the ground. The two guards looked at one another for a moment, before one gave a slight nod, volunteering to be the one to see this horrific ritual through. The other stepped back, bowed to the priest, and left to attend to his other duties.

Renka was led over and tied with his back to the log, facing the cliff. A quick and almost silent "Sorry...", was heard as the remaining guard violated his vow of silence, but Renka didn't have the awareness nor inclination to recognize the voice before the ritual would begin, and the soldier stepped away.

The priest was holding his sacred book before him, yelling out several passages speaking of deliverance and forgiveness as the guard returned with a rope in hand, dragging a box behind him and positioning it before the post. He waited a moment for the priest to complete his reading, and give him the signal before continuing. He stepped back as he slid one side of the box open, and released its contents.

They called them "Nicca" in their language. Insect-like creatures that will swarm and devour everything in their path. They often used the bugs' flesh-dissolving venom on their weapons, it was one of the biggest reasons the nation was as powerful as it was. They were used to "return the flesh to the world,". Under normal circumstances, Renka would have been held alive for minutes as the Nicca slowly consumed him. The remainder of the ceremony would cut his time sort however

In his struggles he had twisted just far enough to catch another glimpse of his wife, who had wrestled the chain from the grip of the wicked priest and began running toward him.  
In that moment, the guard carefully dropped a torch at the foot of the post. "Fire to bring judgement upon the soul", is what they would say. This was the royal sacrament, a death sentence usually reserved only for royalty who betray the church, an over-glorified torture session ending in a death designed for the appearance of grace.  
Flame met flesh, and Renka's screams were only temporarily drowned out as the swarm was cooked alive with a horrific squeal.

His wife didn't stop her approach.

One could barely make out an unintelligible yell from the soldier as she threw herself against Renka and clung to him, sending the post tumbling over the cliff.  
They spun end-over-end, becoming tangled in vines and crashing violently against the sharp rocks on their descent until a final impact brought them both into blackness.


	2. Chapter 2

In an instant, the pain of the Nicca's venom searing its way through his burning flesh disappeared, and only blackness replaced it. A lasting darkness without thought, only vague awareness. Dragged from a nightmare to the worst of fever dreams.

If blackness could grow in intensity, this did, only to be replaced by a light in an instant. A forceful light that seemed to shake his very essence, either with surprise or some sort of strained familiarity. With it came a return of his senses, and an inexplicable calm even as the light washed over him, consumed him, and receded into an omnipresent glow.

Not once did Renka question this occurence. It was his belief that the ceremony had done what it was supposed to do despite its many glaring altercations, even as the light remained static for what he assumed to be hours. This afterlife didn't match what had been described to him though, and he grew ever more curious about exactly what this was, perhaps just a transitional period?

An odd feeling with distant familiarity overtook him, beginning in his right leg, and slowly washing over the rest of his body. It was up to his knee before he actually recognized the feeling as pain, which was odd enough in itself, but by impulse he moved his head to see, and couldn't. There was no sense of anything restraining his movement, but his view never changed from the light. It was as if there was no body to see, despite what the pain told. Helpless as he was, there was nothing to be done to stop the pain from covering him, however slight as it may be.

The light surrounding Renka blinked out for a moment, taking the pain with it so suddenly that he had to ask himself if it was ever there at all. Then he was falling. Accelerating ever faster in what could only be downwads, but feeling nor hearing the wind rushing past him. An impact would have surely crushed him, inside and out.  
But it didn't. The unexpected impact came as softly as the fall into his bed of hay in the Slaves' quarter of his former master's estate, but elicited no surprise, as if all of it had happened countless times before. In that moment, the light melted away into what appeared to be polished iron ceiling, and sound returned to the world with his own breathing, and the steady thumping of his heart.

Pushing himself upright to inspect his surroundings, another body quickly caught his attention against the odd backdrop of the plain grey room. Laying on a same bed as him, of the same grey metal as the walls and ceiling, with a white sheet draped over it. As if possessed,

Renka slowly pushed himself to his feet to investigate his new roommate, shuffling over quietly and tossing the sheet aside.

The unmoving eyes of his wife stared back at him, and the shock instantly brought him out of his trance-like state and to his knees. His hands flew to her in a panic, confirming his fears with her icy skin and unbreathing lips.

Why...?", barely a whisper, his voice was like a great drum against the absolute silence. This was the afterlife, was it not? She fell down the cliff with him, surely with no chance for survival. Her body was here, so what was going on? He pulled her arm from the sheet and locked her finger with his own, shutting his eyes while he wait in the hopes that time may have some effect.

He couldn't say whether hours or mere minutes had passed, but he found himself whispering a prayer towards the end, asking that her soul find happiness wherever it may be. With that, he placed one last kiss on her forehead before carefully, and reluctantly replacing the shroud.  
He intended to look around for a moment and then return to her, but that took only a second. Aside from the two beds, the room was completely empty, without any doors or windows, or a single seam along the walls. Even the ceiling was completely bare and blank and without a single fixture, making the source of the room's illumination a mystery in itself. Suddenly an echoing voice sounded from behind him, and he whirled to meet its source.

"Apologies for my lateness", said the figure standing in the arch of a door that hadn't existed only a moment prior, a blue robe and hood obscuring any view of his skin. "I'm sure you have a great many questions, and they'll all be answered soon enough, but what I can tell you immediately is this: you are not dead, and you are safe"  
Renka was equal parts terrified and curious at the sight of the stranger, and regrettably, despite his situation and that of his wife, only question remained intelligible in his mind at that moment. It came out as an awkward stammer, "Wh—who...?", he struggled to form the words, for only a second before the man interrupted him.  
"My name is Bethesda, and this is my sanctuary"


End file.
